WSC Q&A #20

Q: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a redeemer. 
Ephesians 1:4-5:  Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. 

How much theological weight can one question and answer hold!? In this question, we have both the doctrine of election and the doctrine of the covenant of grace. Both are essential to understanding what we would call the "Reformed" (or Calvinist) faith. These two doctrines-the doctrine of God's sovereign election in salvation and the doctrine of the covenant (Covenant Theology), are at the heart of our understanding of salvation. But beyond that, they are at the heart of understanding the grace of God.

The last few questions of the confession give us little reason to hope. Mankind is fallen. When Adam fell in the garden, the whole of the human race fell with him. We are guilty because Adam's sin is imputed to us. But not only are we guilty on that level. We are also guilty because we sin, and we sin often. We've seen what our sin has cost us. It cost us fellowship with our creator. Instead of living in fellowship and in peace with God, he, because of our sinful state, has turned his face away in wrath, and rightfully so. But here is the turning point in the confession. God did not leave all mankind to perish. He should have. He could have, and it would have been a glorious display of his perfect justice and righteousness. But he didn't. Instead, God, in his grace and mercy, established a new covenant with man. A covenant that was not based upon our obedience, but rather, would be kept by God himself. This covenant was first spoken of in Genesis 3 when God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. It was spoken of again in Genesis 15 when God made his covenant with Abraham. And again with David. And again with Jeremiah. All throughout the Old Testament, the Covenant of Grace was renewed. It is an everlasting covenant, and one that we can trust because it is one that God himself satisfies completely. Were we to play any role in the covenant, we would have no hope. The covenant would be broken, just as we broke the Covenant of Works. But the Covenant of Grace is upheld by God, fulfilled by our redeemer, our new "Federal Head", the "Second Adam", Jesus Christ, as he lived a life of perfect obedience (thus fulfilling the covenant of works), as he took on death and hell at the cross (taking the punishment we deserve), and rose again from the dead (assuring us that God has found satisfaction in Christ's work on behalf of his people). This grand Covenant of Grace is how God has always saved and redeemed his people. 

But the question is, how does fallen man become part of God's people? How do we become part of this covenant body, this redeemed people of God? We've seen how devastating sin is. Paul would write in Romans 3 about the total effects of the fall. He would write (summarizing several Psalms, Proverbs and passages from Isaiah), "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one...There is no fear of God before their eyes.” So if that is our true condition, if no one seeks for God or understands, if all have turned aside, if none of us fear God, if we are truly dead in our sins, how is it that we can ever hope to enter into this covenant people? God's sovereign election is the Bible's answer to this. God, in a wonderful act of grace and mercy, has chosen some to everlasting life. We are given faith. We are given eyes to see and ears to understand. We are given a new heart. We are raised from the dead (Eph. 2:4), made alive in Christ, brought into his covenant family.  This is not our own work. This is not the result of a choice we made. Rather, this is the sovereign will of God being worked out in our lives, resurrecting us from the dead so that we can call on Christ as our savior and be brought into God's covenant family. The work of election, God's sovereign predestination of individuals to salvation, to be brought into the Covenant of Grace, is a glorious work of grace and mercy!

This week's catechism is huge. I can't write all that needs to be said on this subject, and no doubt if these are new doctrines for you, you have many questions. We recently had our first New Member's Class at Proclamation PCA. Because of facility limitations and time, we had to go through these teachings very quickly as well. Below are several resources that can help you explore these doctrines much more deeply. Some of these books can be found on the shelves of our church office, and we would be glad to share them with anyone who has interest in reading more.

The Doctrine of Election:
Putting Amazing Back into Grace-Michael Horton
The Doctrines of Grace-James Montgomery Boice

Covenant Theology:
Introducing Covenant Theology-Michael Horton
The Christ of the Covenants-O. Palmer Robertson

WSC Q&A #19

Q: What is the misery of that estate into which man fell?
A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever. 
Galatians 3:10: For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them."

We talked a lot about this already, at least the first point here about losing communion with God. In earlier editions of this blog, I wrote about how, after the Fall, mankind lost perfect communion and fellowship with God, with each other, with creation, and how the effects of the Fall have ruined every single relationship that mankind was supposed to have and enjoy. This week, the question focuses in on the ramifications of the worst of these broken relationships-our communion with God. What has happened to mankind now that we've lost communion with God? We no longer are under God's loving care, but rather, are cursed and under his wrath. 

Yes, God does have wrath. Much has been said lately, even by those who would call themselves "Christians", in attempts to portray God as not having wrath. Many make attempts to make God all love, or grace, or mercy, and God IS those things, but above all else, God is "Holy, Holy, Holy"! His holiness is the root and fountain from which all of his attributes flow. His holiness is what makes him God. And God, being perfectly holy, has holy reflexes towards sin and evil. Holiness cannot tolerate that which is not holy. 

It was a terrible thing for man to lose perfect communion with his fellow man. A terrible loss when we lost communion with the created world. But all of it pales in comparison to losing fellowship with God. Because we chose to rebel, because we chose our will and desires over God's will, because we decided to cloth ourselves in the rags of sin, a holy God had no choice but to remove his beautiful face from us in anger. And the life we were given, a life that was meant to be enjoyed, a life that was meant to be lived in perfect fellowship with God, now has become a life of mourning and sorrow. The catechism talks about us being made "liable to all miseries". All the hardships of this life, the toil and turmoil of the world, of living in this world, even death itself, is a result of our fall. The life God intended to be full of peace and fellowship and rejoicing has become a life of hardship, war, disease, famine, pain, isolation, and death. It is misery upon misery.

  And as hard as this message seems, as hard and terrible as this life is for us, and as terrible as God's wrath may seem, it is all the more heartbreaking, hard, terrible for God. And we will see that in the person of Jesus Christ, when we realize just how far God will have to go to restore us to communion with himself. But for now, we must recognize our condition before a holy God, and recognize what awaits us in this life. 

But God is merciful. And praise God that he is holy, holy holy! Praise him for his wrath and his justice. And praise him for his grace and his mercy. He has spared us, his children, from the wrath we justly deserve, at much cost to himself, and he has not abandoned us to the miseries of this life. 
 

WSC Q&A #18

Q: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate into which man fell? 
A: The sinfulness of that estate into which man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. 
Romans 3:10-12: As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
Genesis 6:5: The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 

Okay. This is a lot to digest. Let's take it piece by piece because this is an important doctrine to understand. So important, I believe, that if we don't have a firm grasp on this truth, we will never have a firm grasp on just how gracious, merciful, and miraculous salvation actually is!

The catechism is setting out now to show how deep mankind's fall goes. Just how sinful are we? It works on two levels. First, we are counted as sinful because Adam was sinful. We already talked about the idea of "Federal Headship". In the garden, Adam did not act on his own behalf, but rather, acted on the behalf of the entire human race. His obedience would have been our obedience, and his fall became our fall. Because he sinned, the entire human race was now considered sinful. Not only was it considered sinful, it was sinful because sin entered into humanity through Adam. But not only that, the sin that entered into the human race through Adam is so complete in its damage that it has left NO part of the human being (including our will) untouched. Look at the Romans verse and see how ruined we actually are. We do not do what is right, we do not seek for God, we have all turned away, rebelled against God. All of who we are is touched, tainted, ruined by sin. That is the first level of our sinfulness and guilt The second level is our own actual sins, as the confession says it, "the actual transgressions that proceed". So now, we are not only sinful because of Adam's sin, we are also sinful because of our own sin! What other actions can flow out of a being who's entire core is tainted and ruined by sin!? 

The very definition of what it means to be human in light of the fall is to be sinful and wicked. We are no different from the people in the days of Noah. We must truly grasp and understand this reality. As I said earlier, we will never understand salvation properly if we do not understand our own depravity first. 

WSC Q&A #17

Q: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
Romans 5:18: Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 

We've already talked about Adam's federal headship over the human race, how when Adam fell, we all fell with him. Sin entered into God's most precious creation, and instead of bringing joy and delight to the Creator, we now stir up his holy wrath and anger and justice. That is the result of us being in an estate of sin.

But the confession this week also talks about an estate of misery. Because the effects of sin aren't just that we are now depraved. Now we must live in this state of depravity. We rebel against God and his law. His law is a law of  love. It tells us how to live in a way that brings glory to God, but it also shows us how we are to live. The law of God is the "better way" to live. But since we rebel against that law, we live in a way that brings us pain and suffering. It's not just that God told us how to live because that's what pleases him, or because he simply doesn't like something. No, God has shown and instructed us how to live because that's how we were originally designed to live. It's what is best for us! And now, we live contrary to the ways in which we were designed. Misery is the result. We were designed to be at peace and in fellowship with God. We rebel against God, and instead bask in the misery of not having fellowship with our creator. We were designed to be at peace and in fellowship with our fellow man. We rebel against that design, and now murder, harm, insult, slander one another. We were designed to be at peace with the natural world around us. We rebel against that design, and now we plunder our natural resources, destroy the created world around us, live in fear of what the elements can do to us at any given moment. Misery everywhere we look. Misery everywhere we turn. And it all stems from sin. It's all a result of the fall of Adam, and our continual rebellion against God. 

In the coming weeks, the catechism will examine even more closely the estate of sin and the estate of misery, particularly the eternal effects of falling from our original estate. I wanted us, though, to take a few minutes to see how our falling from our original estate has had very real consequences not only eternally, but also here and now in this life.

We can take encouragement though, as our Scripture this week foreshadows a great hope. The "second Adam" has indeed come, and by one work of righteousness, he brings life and justification for all of God's people!

Will we be ready for Sunday?

Pastor Joe Thorn has a great post worth reading as we prepare for our gathered worship each week. You can read it below or at the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals website:

MAKING THE MOST OF SUNDAY

Corporate worship on the Lord’s day is precious to the people of God. We are invited to gather together for fellowship with God and one another through both word and sacrament, prayer and song. This gathering is perhaps the most beautiful, earthly picture we have of the church as we, of differing backgrounds and interests, unite together in Jesus Christ. Edmund Clowney put it so well when he wrote:

“Above all, we must prize the blessing of corporate worship. The church of the Lord, gathered for worship, marks the pinnacle of our fellowship with the Lord and with one another. The church is the people of God, the new humanity, the beginning of the new creation, a colony of heaven… In corporate worship we experience the meaning of union with Christ.”1

Yet, Sundays can be trying. We are busy and tired from a week of labor and activities. For those families with children just getting out the door on time can be a challenge--if not a battle! And when we finally sit down in church we are assaulted with distractions emerging from our own hearts and minds.

I want to encourage you to make the most of corporate worship, not just this weekend, but every weekend. As we look forward to what God will do among us as we gather let’s remember that there are three ways to get the most out of your Sundays with the church: prepare, participate, and reflect.

Prepare

The significance of corporate worship must not be missed. We are not gathered to observe a show, or attending a lecture. We gather to worship the living God, drawing near to him through Jesus Christ, feasting on his word, repenting of sin, and rejoicing in his salvation. Getting the most out of worship is greatly helped by preparing our hearts to meet with God the night before.

Prayer is the primary means by which we prepare our hearts for worship. We should be in prayer for those who will lead as well as all who attend, asking God to draw men to the Son, to revive the lukewarm by his Spirit, and to penetrate hearts with the word.

And of course you must pray for your own soul; confessing your sin, trusting in the pardon only the Father gives in Jesus. We ought to be asking God to show us any hurtful ways in our hearts, and to speak to our fears and needs when we gather in the assembly. In his outstanding little book, The Christian's Daily Walk, Henry Scudder explained the place of prayer in preparation for worship when he wrote:

“Then pray for yourself, and for the minister, that God would give him a mouth to speak, and you a heart to hear, as you both ought to do. All this, before you shall assemble for public worship.”2

It is also helpful to read and meditate on the passage that your pastor will preaching from on Sunday. Early on in my first church plant a man named Mark called my cell phone, which at the time was also the church’s official phone line. He told me he was in town with his son and would be joining us for worship the next day. He wanted to know what passage I was preaching from so he and his son could read it and pray through it together that night. The next day Mark and his son showed up to our little church plant prepared to worship our risen Savior. I had no idea the night before I was speaking on the phone with Pastor Mark Dever of Capital Hill Baptist Church! His example is one we would all do well to follow.

Another means of preparation is rest. The hectic (and often times unnecessary) pace of our lives can make transitioning to worship on the Lord’s Day difficult. Be sure to get enough sleep the night before. Fatigue can be a great hindrance to worship, so let’s not give it any room to distract us. On Sunday morning be sure to get up early enough to not be rushed. And when you arrive be ready to respond to what the Lord will do.

Participate

Getting the most out of corporate worship requires you to do more than show up. You must participate in the act of worship in all of its forms. You are not an observer, but a worshipper. The only Observer is the Lord himself who receives our offering with delight through his Son Jesus Christ.

Get there early. Sometimes, in God’s providence, we arrive late, but our habit should be to arrive early. Getting there before worship begins allows us to not only be part of the whole gathering, but also gives opportunity to see and serve others. The Call to Worship that formally begins the assembly is not a bell that merely announces the beginning of an event, and is an invitation to draw our hearts upward toward our triune God. The first verses of Scripture that are read are put in place through careful planning and God’s providence. Arriving late means you are missing something good God has for you to hear.

Hear the word with eagerness. The reading of Scripture in worship is the voice of God, and we must be ready to hear him. Here the Lord speaks to his people collectively, and to you individually. Distractions will abound, so we must consciously lay them aside to give God our full attention. Whenever the word of God is read it is an “audible conference of the Almighty with your soul. A distraction lets him talk unto the walls.”3

Sing with your heart to the Lord and to those present. Scripture commands us to address “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Eph 5:19) It is painfully obvious that in many churches today much of the congregation lip-syncs along with the band on stage. Even if the entire body was to sing aloud it is often impossible to hear them over the vocalists and musicians. But the Lord calls us to sing to him and to one another. This is a form of worship God has specifically prescribed for us. Yes, we sing with our hearts, but such songs are to be amplified by faith and run through our mouths. Here is where the real volume should come in. We should be turned up as far as we can go.

There may be songs you are not fond of. If the melody isn’t to your liking focus on the words, assuming they are reflect the truth of God and the gospel. Do not allow your preferences to short-circuit worship. This gathering is not set to meet your tastes but the taste of almighty God.

Pray with those who lead in prayer. It is easy to tune out when someone else is leading in prayer. So keep in mind this is not the time for one person to pray, but for all God’s people to pray. Push distractions out of your mind to give attention to what is being offered up by the one, and echo those prayers in your own heart, adding to them as you and the rest of the church entreat the Lord together. “Prayer is a pouring out the heart unto the Lord; by a distraction you pour it aside."4

Follow the preacher. When the preacher stands to deliver the sermon work hard to follow him closely, bible in hand, ready to receive the message not as man’s word, but God’s word (1 Thess 1:6; 2:13) If you have a hard time following the preacher, keep your Bible open and prayerfully search it. When you read the word of God it is read it is a “perusing of God's heart in black and white, where you may believe every letter to be written in blood.”5

Let the various parts of corporate worship draw you to our triune God. In our weakness, or sometimes in the weakness of a particular element in worship, we may not experience much grace in the moment. But If the songs do not enflame your heart, perhaps the sermon will. Or if the sermon is difficult for you to digest, perhaps the prayers will lift your head in adoration. God is at work in each element of worship, so each component has the ability to challenge and change you, including the call to worship, the songs, the prayers, the preaching, the Lord’s Supper, the offering, and the benediction.

Go as one who is sent. As worship concludes and you return home, remember that you are not simply leaving, but are sent by God to believe his word, walk in the Spirit, and testify to the reality of Jesus Christ in all of life.

Reflect

Finally, when the assembly has been sent out, and you are alone or with family or friends, reflect on what was heralded and heard. Return to the word that was preached, discuss it with others, and ask God to continue working in you what he said that day.

There is much to be gained in corporate worship, but I find that  we easily miss out when we are not prepared for it, participating in it, or reflecting on it. Again Scudder noted:

Do all this the rather, because there is not a clearer sign to distinguish you from one that is pro fane, than this, of conscientiously keeping holy the Lord's day. Neither is there any ordinary means of gaining strength and growth of grace in the in ward man like this, of due observing the sabbath. For this is God's great mart or fair-day for the soul, on which you may buy of Christ wine, milk, bread, marrow and fatness, gold, white raiment, eye salve, — even all things which are necessary, and which will satisfy, and cause the soul to live. It is the special day of proclaiming and sealing of pardons to penitent sinners. It is God's special day of publishing and sealing your patent of eternal life. It is a blessed day, sanctified for all these blessed purposes.6

1. Edmund Clowney, The Church

2. Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk

3. Richard Steele, A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in Worship

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk